David Obey: Congressional Seniority Has Its Perks

Take a look at the record.  (From the biography on his website.)

Dave is the only Democratic Member of the House to have served on the three major economic committees in the Congress:

The Budget Committee, on which his six-year service included chairing the Task Force on Worker Productivity.

The Joint Economic Committee, which conducts long-term analysis of trends in the economy.  Dave served two terms as Chair of the Committee.  During that time, he and Senator Paul Sarbanes co-edited a book, The Changing American Economy, which was a result of a Committee-sponsored symposium on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the passage of the Full Employment Act of 1946.

The Committee on Appropriations, which makes funding decisions on every discretionary program in the federal budget.  Dave is the Chairman of the Committee.  In that capacity, he serves as a member of all twelve Appropriations Subcommittees, listed below:

• Agriculture, Rural Development, Food & Drug Admin. and Related Agencies
• Defense 
• Energy and Water Development
• Financial Services and General Government
• Homeland Security
• Interior, Environment and Related Agencies 
• Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies
• Legislative Branch
• Military Construction, Veterans Administration, and Related Agencies
• Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies 
• State, Foreign Operations, and Related Agencies 
• Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies

Link to May 8 Stevens Point Journal article,"Obey's influence on Central Wisconsin incalculable".

Excerpt:    Hundreds of millions. Maybe billions.

No one, not even Dave Obey himself, has calculated how much federal money the congressman has brought home to the 7th District.

One thing is certain: One cannot live in or drive through any of the major cities in this sprawling district without being affected in some way by an Obey-funded project.

As a senior member of the House and chairman of the Appropriations Committee, Obey had enormous influence on how and where federal money was spent. The cash went for everything from building rural dental clinics to expanding Interstate 39 to paying for school and college programs.